Wokingham Choral Society

Edward GardnerMusical Director 1997-2002

In November of last year at the age of 27,
Edward Gardner was appointed Assistant Conductor
to the Hallé Orchestra, with whom he will make
his debut in May 2002 conducting Elgar's In the South,
Strauss' Oboe Concerto, and Ravel's Mother Goose Suite.

Edward studied at King's College Cambridge and the
Royal Academy of Music. Since graduating from the
Royal Academy in 2000 with a distinction,
Edward has assisted Sylvain Cambreling at the
Salzburg Festival for Les Troyens and Figaro and
Donald Palumbo with the Vienna State Opera Choir,
conducting performances of Jenufa, Don Carlos,
Falstaff and Cosi. He has also conducted English
Touring Opera in The Rake's Progress and La Traviata
and later this year will conduct Eugene Onegin for
Glyndebourne Touring Opera.

Other forthcoming engagements include assisting Mark Elder
at Covent Garden, for Verdi's Attila, Vladimir Jurowski at
Glyndebourne and Noel Davies at English National Opera.

Edward combines his operatic work with a busy concert
schedule which has recently included performances of
Elgar's Dream of Gerontius, Tippett's Child of our Time,
Beethoven's 9th Symphony and Szymanowski's Stabat Mater.

As a keen advocate of 20th and 21st Century Music,
Edward set up the Chimera Ensemble while still a student
at the Royal Academy. The group's performances include
Twice through the Heart by Turnage and Schoenberg's
Pierrot Lunaire and made its St. John's Smith Square
debut in March 2000 with a programme based around Britten's
two song cycles, Les Illuminations and Nocturne.